Lypholized and similar liquid drugs are typically provided in medicament vials with standard elastomeric closure sizes, such as 20 mm and 13 mm diameter closures. Administration of these drugs, if administered to patients via routes such as intramuscular, intravenous, intracutaneous, and the like, require that delivery devices be attached to a syringe, and then administered to the patient, for example using needles. The needles used to administer the drug to the patient are often different from the needle or access device used to access the medicament vial(s). Certain needle types are special for drug vials—such as anti-coring needles—and would be inappropriate for use when injecting a patient. For instance, a pharmacy technician may use a high flow rate needle to withdraw diluent from one source, and inject it into a lyophilized drug vial. The vial would be mixed up, and drawn back into the syringe—or perhaps a new clean syringe. Then often times the drug preparation needle is removed and disposed of and an alternate sterile needle, appropriate for the specific type of patient injection (e.g. deltoid intramuscular), would be placed on to take the prepared drug-filled syringe with new capped needle to the patient. The prescribed mixing and preparation of drugs vary, which may require certain drugs to be mixed carefully, or flow through specific sized needles. The lyophilized drug may be expensive, requiring that a little as possible or substantially nothing is left in the drug vial.
Vial elastomeric closure design and materials vary and may require the user to match up the appropriate needle or access device with the medicament vial. The medicament injection process varies by both the location and type of injection. Since the drug preparation is often completed by a technician or nurse, not the prescriber, and/or different from the administrator of the medication, there may be multiple steps in the process that may result in error. Additionally, due to the number of steps, the time of preparation can be significant, adding cost and complexity to the process. Finally, switching needles often for drug preparation and administration may lead to an increased likelihood of needle-stick injuries.